Tim McGraw Starts Off 2013 With His "Two Lanes Of Freedom" Tour

Country music icon, Tim McGraw, announced today that his Two Lanes of Freedom 2013 Tour, presented by Pennzoil, will crank up this summer in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 2 and continue on to 30 cities through July. The U.S. trek will also feature emerging artists Brantley Gilbert and Love and Theft.

McGraw has partnered with Tumblr to create the "Fanticipation" program which will allow fans, for the first time ever, to announce through Tumblr when tickets will be available in their own hometown. Beginning in early February, McGraw will call a fan in each market who is selected to participate in "Fanticipation" and personally tip them off, so they can share the information with their friends and other McGraw fans first. For more information on "Fanticipation," click here: http://timmcgraw.tumblr.com/.

After more than two decades on the road, McGraw's ability to entertain and command a crowd continues to be a defining characteristic of both his artistry and superstar status. Earlier this year the Tampa Tribune described McGraw's live show as "effortless" while the Atlanta Journal Constitution remarked "he's so casually cool onstage" and OC Weekly said "It's a bold claim, but McGraw could and should be poised to reign as king of country music…"

"This album marks a new sense of excitement and artistic freedom for me, and I really wanted to extend that same feeling to the tour and create a cool vibe for the fans," explains McGraw. "Let's leave anything that might be weighing us down out in the parking lot and spend a few hours together feeling alive and free. We've started working up new songs from the album, and there's some really cool stuff we'll be able to pull out this summer. My band is just kick-ass…there's nothing these guys can't play! We'll be counting the days til Birmingham!"

TWO LANES OF FREEDOM Tour Dates:

5/2 Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain Amphitheatre

5/3

Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

5/4

Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion

5/10

West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre

5/11

Tampa, FL 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre

5/12

Atlanta, GA Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood

5/17

Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Bank Center

5/18

Pittsburgh, PA First Niagara Pavilion

5/19

Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre

5/23

St. Louis, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

5/24

Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre

5/25

Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center

5/26

Darien Lakes, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center

5/30

Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center

5/31

Cleveland, OH Blossom Music Center

6/1

Washington, D.C. Jiffy LubeLive

6/7

San Diego, CA Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre

6/8

San Bernardino, CA San Manuel Amphitheatre

6/9

Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre

6/13

Albuquerque, NM Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque Presents the Pavilion

6/14

Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre

6/15

Denver, CO Fiddler's Green

6/20

Beaumont, TX Ford Park Pavilion

6/22

Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion

6/28

Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre

6/29

Boston, MA Comcast Center

6/30

Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

7/25

Toronto, ONT Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

7/26

Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

7/27

Virginia Beach, VA Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach

On Feb. 5, McGraw will release his first album on Big Machine Records, Two Lanes of Freedom. The album follows his record-shattering career, selling over 40 million albums and dominating the charts with 32 No. one singles. Since the release of his debut album in 1993, he has won three GRAMMY’s, 14 ACM Awards, 12 CMA Awards, and 10 AMA’s, while simultaneously maintaining a parallel career as a successful actor in such films as the Oscar nominated The Blind Side, Country Strong and Friday Night Lights—as well as hosting Saturday Night Live, a rare honor for a singer in any genre. Nielsen-BDS recently certified McGraw as the most-played country artist of the past 20 years (1992-2012) with more than 10 million spins detected and Mediabase recognized him as the most-played country artist in the history of their tracking service.

Brantley Gilbert has already earned a striking set of “notches” on his industry belt, including four No. one singles and impressive album sales of over 1 million. Rising duo Love and Theft celebrated their first No. one song "Angel Eyes" last year from their self-titled album.

For Tim McGraw and Pennzoil, cars represent freedom, which is why both have teamed up for the second year to celebrate the love of music and cars.

For more updates and the latest information, visit www.timmcgraw.com or follow @thetimmcgraw on Twitter.